


A Handful Of Darkness

by WandaRavenBlack



Series: Bad Things Happen - Dick Grayson [7]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Begging, Crying, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Fear, Force-Feeding, Hallucinations, Hurt Dick Grayson, Protective Bruce Wayne, Protective Damian Wayne, Scarecrow's Fear Toxin (DCU)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 22:23:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21126218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WandaRavenBlack/pseuds/WandaRavenBlack
Summary: FORCE FEEDINGDick and Damian get captured by Scarecrow and Damian has to watch Dick be put through his worst fears.





	A Handful Of Darkness

“What if it’s a toxin that can target a specific person? They release it into the air and it targets specific people. ” 

Dick shook his head. 

“No way. I already told you, Tim. I was in the same room with three people who got infected.” 

Damian frowned and walked a bit closer to them. 

“Maybe it targets people more prone to getting affected.” 

“Exactly. We have all been trained how to deal with fear gas. If…” 

Dick slammed his hand down on the table, making Tim jump and Damian glare at him. Bruce looked away from the computer he was working on. 

“I can’t deal with the gas. Alright? I’ve never been able to. Every time I got hit with it, Bruce had to knock me out until it passed because I either tried to kill him or myself. So come up with something else.” 

Tim and Damian were stunned into silence, while Bruce felt tiredness. Scarecrow and his fear toxin were always a touchy subject with Dick. Bruce had never seen anyone react to it as violently as the young man had. Seeing that Tim was opening his mouth to say something, he quickly cut him off. 

“Dick, Damian. Go out and try to get some more information. But don’t engage. Damian’s never had the toxin and we don’t know how it will affect him.” 

Dick nodded sharply and marched out of the room. As soon as the door closed behind him, Damian turned to Bruce. 

“Father?” 

“Keep an eye on him, Damian. If he gets hit with it, knock him out as fast as possible and contact us. Understood?” 

Realizing that this was something more than a simple patrol, Damian nodded without a word and followed Dick. He caught up with him just outside the cave and smiled when he saw that Dick had brought out his motorcycle. 

“Can I drive?” 

That question make Dick grin at him and Damian felt more at ease. This was the Dick Grayson he was used to. 

“Nope. B will kill me if he finds out I let you drive. But, if everything goes right, I’ll take you to Bludhaven for the weekend and we can race around with Jay a bit.” 

Damian felt another smile creep its way across his face. He loved going to Bludhaven to stay with Dick. Of course there was no big mansion to stay in, no bat-cave and no luxury. Instead there was a hard bed, loud neighbours and leftover food that was eaten for several days in a row, before Barbra or Kate sent over some new. Damian would swear that he had woken up one night to see Catwoman filling the fridge, only for Dick to smile at him and shrug when he asked about it in the morning. It wasn’t a perfect living condition, but it felt more like a home than the mansion ever did. He sat down on the seat behind Dick and grabbed onto his sides to make sure that he wouldn’t fall off. They drove for about ten minutes, before Dick stopped in a back alley. Jumping off the bike, Damian looked around. It was quiet. The older boy must’ve noticed it too, because he locked his motorcycle and pulled his Escrima Sticks out. 

“It’s way too quiet, right?” 

Damian nodded and put his hand on the hilt of his sword. But, before they could even think about where to head first, a smoke bomb exploded next to Dick. Both boys moved closer to each other, not wanting to get split up. Dick felt worry. He hadn’t been lying before. He was terrible when it came to fear toxin. The things he saw were too horrifying to even think about. He felt a sudden dizziness hit him and quickly put away one of his sticks. Then he covered his mouth and nose and turned to where he thought Damian was. 

“Don’t breat…” 

Before he could finish, he heard Damian’s body hit the ground. His hand tightened on the stick while he tried to see something in the fog. He was getting more and more dizzy. Shooting a grappling hook could work, but there was the problem of not seeing where to shoot it. Understanding that there was nothing he could do, and not wanting to move away from where Damian had fallen, he quickly turned on his comm. 

“Nightwing to Batman. Fog. Can’t see. We’re in…” 

Everything became black and he fell to the ground next to Damian. 

********

Dick woke up slowly. For a moment, he didn’t open his eyes, just trying to feel if he was hurt anywhere. He wasn’t, but his arms were chained above him, holding him in a standing position with his feet a few centimeters over the floor. He heard angry breathing from his right and snapped his eyes open when he recognized it as Damian’s. The boy was hanging from the ceiling, glaring at someone. Following his line of sight, Dick turned towards where Scarecrow was standing. The villain smirked at him. 

“You’re finally awake.” 

He walked a bit closer to them and tilted his head. Damian was opening his mouth to say something, but caught Dick shaking his head slightly. He had been in situations like this before and he knew that keeping his mouth shut was sometimes the best option. Back when he was younger he had never understood it, always talking his way through all the kidnappings and infuriating his captors. But having stayed with Slade for some time had taught him to keep his mouth shut. 

“Not talkative, huh? That’s a new one. You bats usually talk so much.” 

Dick had to bite down on his tongue to not answer. That seemed to put the man off a bit. He looked between them, before the grin came back to his face. 

“Doesn’t matter. You’ll be more talkative soon. See that window over there?” 

He pointed behind him and Dick nodded slowly. They had to play along for now. Especially since he didn’t know if Bruce had gotten his last call or not. 

“There is a sniper on the other side. One of the best in the world. Do you understand?” 

Both boys nodded, still not saying anything. Scarecrow walked over to a cabinet in the corner of the room and pulled out a bowl full of something that looked like tomato soup. He put it and a spoon on the table in the middle of the room and turned back to the boys. 

“Do you still understand?” 

Damian didn’t move a muscle, but Dick’s eyes widened. Suddenly, everything fell into place. 

“The toxin is in the food.” 

Immediately, he mentally slapped himself for opening his mouth, but Scarecrow just smirked again. 

“Good boy.” 

Dick felt a shiver go through his body. Villains calling him a good boy never meant anything good. 

“Here’s the deal. The toxin isn’t exactly tested yet. Not this version, at least. I’ll give you a choice. Either you eat it up without any fuss, or my sniper will kill the young one.” 

Dick froze and noticed that Damian’s head snapped towards him. His face was still slightly irritated, but by now Dick had learned that it was just a front. The boy was worried. He closed his eyes and sighed slightly. He didn’t want to do this. He didn’t know how he would react to this new toxin. But, at the same time, he would never let anyone hurt Damian. He opened his eyes and nodded sharply. 

“Fine.” 

“Nightwing!” 

Damian’s outraged voice made him smile over to the boy. 

“Don’t worry, Robin. I’ve got it.” 

He expected the man to feed him, and was shocked when Scarecrow walked over to him and unlocked the shackles, making him drop to the ground. He caught his balance quickly and felt himself tense up, ready for attack, when the man simply pointed at the window. Right. The sniper. He forced his body to relax and felt relief when the grin came back to Scarecrow’s face. And that was when he got a sudden idea. He was used to figuring out what Slade wanted him to say and do to keep the man happy. Maybe he could do it with Scarecrow too. 

“Listen, I…” 

The man pushed him violently towards the table. 

“Get to it, boy.” 

Dick felt another shiver. There was no other option. Very slowly, he walked over to the table and sat down on one of the chairs. Looking down at the soup, he cursed his luck. This was not good at all. Maybe if he ate it slow, Bruce would come before the toxin started working. He did absolutely not want Damian to see him in the state that he always ended up in from the fear gas. Picking up the spoon he scooped up a bit of the soup and tasted it. It was surprisingly good. Almost as good as Alfred’s. After seven spoonfuls, he started to feel something happening to him. Everything around him seemed to get slightly blurry and he couldn’t understand where he was or how he had even ended up there. All he knew was that he had to keep eating. He managed to eat four more spoonfuls, before he suddenly heard a voice he never wanted to hear again. 

“Hallo, Little Bird.” 

*******

Damian watched with wide eyes as Dick ate seven spoonfuls, before looking around him with confused eyes. Then, he went back to eating, only to suddenly jump a few spoons later. He flew up to his feet, the spoon falling onto the chair. Scarecrow frowned. 

“That’s a problem. He wasn’t supposed to stop.” 

“No. No. Please. Just don’t…” 

His voice was scared and Damian felt anger. He was going to kill Scarecrow. Meanwhile, the man walked over to Nightwing and quickly led him over to a corner. To Damian’s surprise, Dick went without any arguments, still muttering pleas. Scarecrow forced him to sit down in the corner and chained him by the wrist. Then he stood up and walked over to Damian. 

“New deal. If he doesn’t finish the food, I’ll have him killed.” 

The boy glared at him. 

“And how do you expect… Oh.” 

Realization hit him. 

“You want me to force feed him.” 

He stated it with a calm voice, being thankful for all the training he had gotten when he was a child. He could not show how much this was affecting him. Scarecrow nodded. 

“Alright. I’ll do it.” 

It wasn’t even a question. If it would save Grayson’s life, he would do it. With another grin, Scarecrow unchained him and took a few steps back to watch them. With angry steps, he walked over to the table and picked up the bowl and spoon. Then he turned to Dick and hesitated. How was he supposed to do this? Very slowly, he started walking towards the young man, only to stop when Dick whimpered. 

“No. Please, don’t.” 

Hardening his expression, Damian walked the rest of the way and crouched down next to Dick. 

“Nightwing?” 

The man turned his face over to him, his eyes still visibly wide open under the mask. 

“Please, Slade. Don’t.” 

Damian felt his own eyes widen slightly. Slade? As in Slade Wilson? Was that who Dick was seeing? Not wanting to drag it out any more, he put some soup on the spoon and lifted it to Dick’s lips. 

“Nightwing. Eat this.” 

Dick shook his head. 

“No. No, please. I…” 

Using the opportunity, Damian quickly put the spoon in Dick’s mouth while he was talking. The young man looked at him with pain on his face, but still swallowed the food without any protests, before turning his face to the other side. 

“Please, Master. No more.” 

Damian felt cold. Master? What had happened to Dick? He picked up more soup and put the bowl on the ground, using his, now free, hand to turn Dick’s face back towards himself. 

“Eat.” 

But Dick refused to open his mouth. Damian frowned. For now, Dick was seeing Slade. Would it work if the boy actually tried acting as the mercenary? It was worth a try. Bringing up everything he had heard about the man before, he made his voice more cold and angry. 

“Nightwing.” 

That didn’t seem to work, and he mentally slapped himself when he remembered something his father had said.  _ ‘Slade is dangerous, because of his brain more than his weapons. He’s always calm, I’ve never heard him raise his voice or even sound angry.’  _ Quickly modulating his voice to be more calm and collected he tried again. 

“Nightwing.” 

He felt small victory when Dick looked up at him. 

“I said: eat.” 

Although he looked scared to death, Dick opened his mouth, letting Damian feed him two spoonfuls before he suddenly jumped and turned to the side. 

“B?” 

And he started to try to stand up, forcing Damian to hold him down. At the same time, the boy felt forry. What if Dick gave up some of their real names to Scarecrow? 

“Nightwing. Look at me.” 

But Dick was keeping his eyes on someone that wasn’t there. 

“I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… I just… I wanted you to be proud. I…” 

Having heard enough, Damian forced the spoon back into Dick’s mouth. The young man looked over to him, his eyes widening again. 

“Little D?” 

Damian tensed up a bit, but it wasn’t that bad yet. No names. 

“Yeah. It’s me. I need you to eat this up.” 

Dick tilted his head, a confused look on his face. 

“But… You promised me. You promised you wouldn’t do it.” 

Damian frowned, momentarily forgetting about Scarecrow being in the same room as them. 

“What did I promise?” 

“That you wouldn’t go back to HER.” 

Damian froze. There was only one woman who could bring so much hate to Dick’s voice. Talia al Ghoul. What was Richard seeing? 

“Wing, what do you…” 

And then it hit him. Dick thought that Damian had gone back to his mother. One of his biggest fears was Damian leaving. He wanted to comfort the man, tell him that he wasn’t leaving. But then he shook his head. Dick wouldn’t believe him. 

“You need to eat this.” 

He kept his voice emotionless and saw a shiver go through Dick’s body. 

“I… Is this what you really want?” 

Damian nodded, pushing down the nausea that was taking him over. If there was one person he absolutely did not want to hurt, it was Richard Grayson. 

“Yes.” 

Dick let his head fall back against the wall, tears starting to fall from under his mask. He opened his mouth slightly and Damian took it as a cue to keep feeding him. The young man ate in silence, shaking and crying all the time. There were around three spoonfuls left, when the door suddenly slammed open and Batman swept into the room, knocking Scarecrow out before the man even realized what was happening. Damian’s eyes widened. 

“The sniper…” 

“Red Robin took care of him.” 

He took a few steps towards Dick, only to stop when the man screamed with rage. 

“You! I’ll kill you for what you did to Jason! I’ll murder you!” 

Damian quickly knelt down next to him again. 

“Richard. Look at me.” 

The man turned to him, his eyes widening again. 

“Jay? You… You’re alive?” 

Damian nodded, quickly changing his voice and mannerisms to mimic Todd’s. 

“Yeah. It’s me, Dickie-bird. Come on. I’ll get you out of here.” 

He picked the lock on the shackles and helped him stand up, only to shout in surprise when Dick charged at Bruce. 

“I’ll kill you, you fucking clown! I’ll rip your head off!” 

Bruce avoided his hits swiftly, before grabbing his arms and holding him in place. Dick turned to Damian. 

“Jason, run! I’ll hold him off! Run!” 

Damian watched as Bruce quickly pulled out a syringe and stuck the needle into Dick’s arm. Seconds later, Dick went slack in his grip and he picked him up, bridal style. Just then, Tim came running into the room. 

“The Batmobile is outside.” 

Bruce nodded. 

“Let’s go home.” 

*********

Dick woke up in the infirmary and groaned. He had a headache. Hearing movement on his right, he opened his eyes and was met with a pair of green eyes, staring at him. 

“Dami? What happened?” 

Damian moved from the chair to the bed, sitting down on the edge. 

“What do you remember?” 

Dick frowned. He had a few flashes of a soup and Scarecrow, but couldn’t piece it together. Closing his eyes, he tried to organize his thoughts. And then it all came back to him. The fear toxin. Slade and Joker. A young Jason. Bruce, being disappointed in him. Talia, laughing in the corner. His eyes snapped open and he shook his head. 

“I’m so sorry, Dami.” 

Damian’s frown deepened. 

“What are you sorry for, Richard?” 

Dick sighed. 

“I’m so sorry you had to see that.” 

Damian was silent for a moment, before slowly starting to talk. 

“You saw father being disappointed in you?” 

Dick nodded. The boy deserved the truth after what he had to go through. 

“Yeah. It’s always been a fear.” 

The boy shook his head. 

“He’ll never be disappointed in you. No. Listen to me. He never will. You didn’t see his face when we brought you here. He was worried. Scared even. You’re his son. He’ll never be disappointed in you. Now let’s keep going. Joker and Todd, right?” 

Dick, still shocked by Damian’s words, just nodded. 

“Understandable. Something like that will stick with you for a long time. Slade?” 

For a moment, they were both silent, Dick breathing a bit more heavily. Just as Damian was seemingly going to say something, the older boy spoke up, his voice quiet. 

“Slade Wilson. Deathstroke. I… I was his apprentice when I was younger. He threatened to kill the team I had back then, if I didn’t serve him. I spent two months with him, before my team figured it all out and we managed to win over him. But he never left. Sometimes, I still see him. Especially when I patrol Bludhaven. I think he’s watching me.” 

Damian nodded, his thoughts flying a hundred miles an hour. Dick had been a mercenary's apprentice. It put everything in another light. The way Dick sometimes fought more like a mercenary than a bat. The way he seemed to always tense up when Wilson was mentioned. But then he remembered another thing that Dick had said while under the influence of the toxin. 

“Richard. Are you scared that I will go back to my mother?” 

Dick froze. That was something he didn’t want Damian to know about. 

“Dami…” 

“Are you?” 

Very slowly, he nodded. 

“Yes. I’m scared that you will get tired of us one day and leave.” 

Damian looked away for a moment, before turning back to Dick, green eyes meeting blue. 

“I’m not going to. I mean…” 

He seemed to be at a loss for words for a moment, before collecting himself again. 

“I don’t need mother. And honestly, I don’t think I need father either. Not as long as I have you. And that’s something I can swear to you, Richard. I will never run away from you. I will never leave you. Do you believe me?” 

Dick’s smile was worth him opening up to someone for once. 

“Yeah. I believe you, Little D. I always do” 


End file.
